


Spiegelbild

by JollyCat



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-08 00:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10374240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JollyCat/pseuds/JollyCat
Summary: What would happen if two people took the Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester and became each other? And what would be required to break the spell between them? Nick and Sean are about to find out...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally an idea for the story I wrote called 'In Another Man's Shoes' but in the end it didn't fit into that - I guess this is a kind of 'bonus track' (plus I can now type 'Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester' without having to check the spelling and wanted to make the most of it!). This is set late season 5 and goes AU shortly after Eve transforms into Renard.

The man who looks like Sean Renard (but isn't) stands up, glancing cautiously above his head before he does so. The man who looks like Nicholas Burkhardt (but isn't) smiles slightly, recognising the gesture of a man learning what it is to be taller than those who designed door frames and light fittings expected. Not-Sean shuts the blinds on the window of the nondescript hotel room while not-Nick turns the lock on the door. Both look at their watches.  
"How long did Adalind say this would last?" the man by the door asks.  
The man by the window looks round, leans back casually against the ledge, seems to realise the posture doesn't suit the body he's in and rather awkwardly stands up again.  
"Probably another hour. Two at the outside."  
"We have a while to wait then."  
The man who looks like Nick (but most certainly is not him) moves into the room and looks around. It's a cheap hotel room and there's not much to look at: bed, open shelves instead of a proper closet, a narrow desk and a flimsy chair. All of it is reflected in a cheap full length mirror as though seeing it once wasn't enough. And why they couldn't have arranged this for somewhere that at least had decent furniture he doesn't know. He can't relish the prospect of an hour or more sitting on that chair, moves across to the bed. He sits, looking at his denim-clad and oddly short legs stretching in front of him. The man by the window frowns slightly, pulls at his shirt collar, hooks a finger in his tie (well, actually not his tie or his shirt) and then sits on the bed too. The two men glance at each other.  
"Did you get what we needed?"  
"Sure did, he's our guy alright. Did you?"  
"I did. Our suspicions were correct there also."  
"I guess that's made it all worthwhile then."  
"I"m not going to be convinced of that until we're safely back in our own bodies."  
"Yeah." The taller man pulls at the damn tie, which he's sure is strangling him, "Whose idea was this again?"  
Sean sighs,  
"Yours, Nick, the idea was entirely yours.

Nick thinks, a little grumpily, that it was Monroe who really put the idea in his head. They'd all been discussing this whole Black Claw thing, whether to trust Hadrian's Wall, how much of a threat either might be. Monroe and Rosalee had been there, Wu, Hank, all sitting round the table in the Spice Shop, the familiar friends he relies on. There'd been some tension though, no one quite sure about the new arrangement of loyalties - Adalind, Eve, and Trubel, none of them are quite what they were a few short months ago. And Renard of course, they're definitely not sure about him. Monroe had said,  
"So you have access to Hadrian's Wall but don't know the right questions to ask or what to look for and meanwhile Renard has 'contacts', if _that's_ what you want to call them, who are probably Black Claw and who you could maybe identify. Just our luck that you're both the _wrong_ person with the _right_ information, if you get what I mean. Shame you two don't look more alike - but I sure as hell don't think anyone would mistake you for him."  
And then, of course, Nick had thought about Eve using the hat and the potion to turn into Renard, trying to find out what he was up to.

Rosalee had found the books, Monroe had found the spell and read it through, that worried expression on his face, voice up high like it gets when he's concerned,  
"I think it says it's _possible_ but what it doesn't say is if it's a good _idea_. I mean, this is a seriously badass spell and god knows what could happen if-”  
But Nick had interrupted, suddenly certain this was the way to go,  
"If it's possible and it's the best way to get what we need I'll do it, I'll turn myself into 'Captain Renard'."  
He'd looked round at the the final person in the room, the green eyes meeting his, an expression that said he knew what Nick was doing here but would go along with it for the moment - an expression he's seen plenty of times at the precinct,  
"What about you? You happy to be me?"  
Renard had looked steadily at Nick and after a long, considering pause had said,  
"'Happy' is not the word I'd use but I'll do it."

 

"So-”, says Nick - and it is so weird to say something and not hear his own voice that he has to clear his throat and start again, "So, you do anything interesting while you were me?"  
Renard frowns, an oddly familiar expression that Nick can recognise even when it looks like his face doing it,  
"I didn't try and have sex with anyone if that's what you're asking."  
Nick isn't actually sure what Renard is most upset about. It could be the fact that Eve transformed herself into him, could be that she had then gotten herself into an intimate situation with Rachel Wood or it could be because - as Eve has made abundantly clear - 'Renard' then had an issue with ah, performance. Nick - even though he agrees with Renard that Eve was out of line - can't suppress a tiny smirk. Then he remembers,  
"That might not be the case all night if this doesn't wear off soon."

 

That night at Monroe's Nick had been all set to just go ahead but of course Renard had to go and get the hat - back in his possession and presumably kept somewhere Eve doesn't know about. As he was half way up the stairs he'd said,  
"I suggest you check the books very carefully while I'm gone and make sure the transformation back is possible - trust me, I have no desire to spend the rest of my life as Nick.”  
So they'd gotten all the books and all looked for any mention. And of course it had to be Monroe who'd found it and of course he had to find it just as Renard had reappeared, taking the seat next to Nick and putting the hat in front of him.  
"Hey, I think I have something . Mmm...yes, I think this has to be the same spell. It says, it says...oh-”  
"What? What's it say?"  
"It, it says-”  
Monroe is looking a little wild-eyed,  
"It says if the spell doesn't break by itself you have to sleep together."  
Nick had very, very carefully not looked around at Renard because of course absolutely no one thought Monroe was suggesting they needed to take a nap at the same time.

"You feeling anything yet? Anything that might be the spell ending?"  
Nick thinks, does he? He stretches, feels the unfamiliar length of his limbs, the different pull of muscle and sinew. But nothing that feels like what happened when he changed into this body. No, he doesn't think he does.  
"It's well over time now."  
"I know."  
Nick looks at Renard - at Sean, except of course it's not Sean's face, it's his own. And god, but it's strange seeing yourself like this, seeing your own face, your own body. Nick thinks of the body he is in, the hard, sculpted muscles beneath the tailored shirt. He'd thought surely the spell would just wear off and if it didn't...yes, he'd thought about it, of course he had, but it seemed so unlikely. And he hadn't really thought about the fact that if they did need to force the spell to break he'd be looking at the body that belongs to Nick Burkhardt and not the one that belongs to Sean Renard.

Sean watches Nick, the expressions on his face. Nick has pushed them to this point, to using the Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester - and although they've undoubtedly gained useful information today he's not really sure it was worthy of the risk they've taken. Now the spell hasn't broken when it should and even though Nick is the one who got them here he seems oddly reluctant to take the action they both know is needed. Sean does see the problem - he's not sure if sex now counts as sex or masturbation - but he's not staying in the wrong body, nice body though it is. He stands up,  
"Come here."

He stands looking towards the mirror, pulls Nick around to stand in front of him, also facing the mirror. Sean smiles slightly at the reversed difference in their heights, steps slightly to one side so he can see their reflections.

Two men. One tall, one a little shorter. One wears a shirt, tailored pants, the other is in jeans and a dark t shirt. Two pairs of eyes, green and grey, gazing at their reflections. The shorter man reaches round, rests his hand lightly on the taller man's chest. A sturdy, capable hand he thinks, looking at it in the mirror, feels a shiver of desire.  
"Imagine-”, he says, "That this is you touching me. What would you do next?”  
"I guess I"d undo your shirt."  
The hand moves across to the buttons, undoes one then another, keeps going down. When the shirt is undone as far down as it can go, the hand pauses, thumb stroking lightly against the fine fabric of the shirt.  
"And now?"  
"Maybe...maybe your pants next."  
They watch their reflection, watch as the hand reaches round, unfastens belt and button and zipper, watch as the fabric is pushed down and away to pool around the tall man's feet.  
"Take off your shoes." An edge of a smile in the voice, a quirk of the lips, "Trust me, those pants won't go over them."  
Once the shoes and socks are gone, the pants kicked aside, then the hands return to shirt buttons, pull the shirt away to reveal the broad expanse of chest. The hands stroke. Sean looks at the reflection, his body, Nick's body - the situation may be ...unusual but he can work with it.

They watch in the mirror, watch the reflections of themselves. Watch as the shirt slides from broad shoulders, is pulled away and tossed aside. Watch as the hands touch, growing gradually bolder. A pinch of a nipple and a gasp, the slow slide of fingers against warm skin. Watch as the hands come to rest at the waistband of the black briefs, watch as the fingers push the dark material away and down, watch as the hand reaches round to grasp the hard flesh revealed.

Now that is odd, Sean thinks. He knows the feel of this, the size, the shape of his own body so well that his brain is tricked. It's almost as though he feels the hand himself, almost wants to thrust against a grip which really isn't there. Instead he pushes forward against the bigger body in front of him, lets Nick feel that he's not alone in arousal, watches for the response on the face that is usually his. Sean lifts up on to his toes to bring Nick's ear within reach of his mouth, breathes against it,  
"So, what would you do now? If this were you touching me?"  
"I guess I'd get naked too."  
Sean lets go of Nick, reaches for the t shirt and starts to take it off.  
"Not there. I want to see."

Sean steps in front of Nick. Their reflections look back at them, the tall figure naked, the shorter still fully clothed, both pairs of eyes dark with need. A spell might have brought them here, might conceal the truth of who they really are but it can't hide the genuine desire that's clear to see. Sean takes the t-shirt in his hands, pulls it over his head, looks in the mirror. Oh, he can't deny it, the body he sees is one he's thought about, imagined. He likes the weight of muscle, built by life as a Grimm rather than Zauberbiest genes and self-absorption, not as defined but strong and solid. He likes the dark hair, strokes his hand across the chest to feel it against his palm, likes the jut of hipbone above the jeans. He undoes the belt, the button and zipper, goes to push the jeans and underwear away, suddenly remembers. He reaches into the pocket for the small tube.  
"What's that?"  
Sean holds it up,  
"We need to do more than look to end the spell."  
Eyes meet in the mirror, an expression that is all Nick moving across his face. They both know what they need to do to break the Verflüchte Zwillingsschwester - Monroe, in an increasingly high pitched and flustered voice, had made it clear enough when they first decided on this course of action.  
"You, uh, you gonna fuck me?"  
Sean leans back against Nick, let's the weight of the erection behind him settle against the seat of his jeans. He smiles at their reflection, suddenly sure what needs to happen here,  
"Actually I thought you might fuck me."  
He feels the response, the hardness behind him, the gasp of breath. And now he does push down the jeans and boxers, kicks them away so that they are both naked. The mirror gives them their image back, both aroused, both hard and heavy and wanting. Mirror images, he thinks wryly. And then Nick reaches for him pulls them together along the full length of their bodies and there's no more room for thought.

 

Mouths touch and taste, the nip of teeth, the soothing caress of lips. Fingers stroke and push and stretch and explore. Bodies push against each other, the silk of skin, the scrape of stubble. They say 'yes' and 'more' and 'now' and eventually have no words left, only gasps and names. Nick moans 'Sean' as he comes and the roar of his own orgasm takes him. There is a moment of pure pleasure, of release and closeness and then suddenly pain, every nerve and every muscle shrieking. The Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester breaks, snaps, tears them apart and back to themselves.

Sean comes to himself with the knowledge that he is himself. He holds up his hand to see its familiarity, stretches limbs that are his own. He's lying on the bed, roughly the right way around although that, he thinks, is more by luck than any judgement. He's holding Nick - properly Nick - to him. Actually clutching might be more the word and he deliberately release his grasp slightly. Nick groans, stirs.  
"Well that was weird."  
Sean can't help but laugh,  
"Which bit exactly?" The being someone else, the sex as someone else or the sex with me?"  
Nick grins,  
"Probably all of that. Plus I think I nearly woged."  
Sean raises an eyebrow,  
"That can happen at the more ah, intense moments. Trust me, it's something you quickly learn to control - unless you want to have a lifetime of celibacy or only ever sleep with hexenbiests. And that I don't recommend."  
Nick turns slightly so that he's looking directly at Sean,  
"It would be okay if the person you were having sex with didn't mind. Maybe even found the idea just a little bit of a turn on."  
They look at each other, green eyes meeting grey. No mirror now, nothing to hide behind.  
"What was this all about, Nick? 'Biest spells are dangerous, you of all people know that. So why Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester? Did you want me to prove myself to you?"  
"No! No, not to me."  
Nick goes to look away but perhaps there's something about this situation, here naked in this room that compels honesty. Nick's eyes meet Sean's again,  
"I guess...I thought if we did something that showed undeniably we were on the same side, working together, trusting each other with something so -, so -”  
"Intimate?"  
"Yeah, I guess that's the word. I..., I thought it would prove it to the others."  
"So I've just been painfully transformed into you, spellbound and then fucked, all for Monroe's benefit?"  
"Um, put like that it maybe sounded a better idea in my head. Although I didn't see you complaining about the last bit."  
They look and then they lean forward and they kiss. A gentle kiss, a long kiss. A kiss to console for any pain, a kiss to confirm. Not the kiss of two people who've just slept together for the first time.

The Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester. Like any spell it can be used for good, used for ill. Eve used it to spy on Sean, considered it the ideal way to find out what he really thought, what he was really doing. Except Eve seems to have no more idea of reading other people's thoughts and motivations than a three year old and Nick by some miracle realised that. So Nick came to him, came to Sean and asked instead of stealing. Oh, Sean had been tempted by Black Claw, he couldn't deny it, even tried to get Nick to see Black Claw's point of view. And they'd argued and they'd nearly fought and then quite suddenly - and he's still not sure how or why - they'd kissed instead. When Nick didn't get back after a couple of hours Monroe had apparently been all for coming round and breaking his door down. Probably a good idea he didn't because by that point they were hot and sweaty and naked and he had Nick face down on his bed, virtually begging. And after that, well, his motivation for supporting Black Claw had never been anything other than self-serving. He justifies it by saying he and Nick together can make history, that this is the best chance he has of the power he craves. Sean knows that's not the truth.

The kiss is growing deeper, their hands are touching, stroking. Their bodies - thankfully their own bodies - responding and rising.  
Nick breaks the kiss for a second,  
"So, can I tell them now? Tell them about us?"  
"They won't like it - not even Hank and Wu, definitely not Monroe, definitely not Adalind."  
"I don't care. I want them to know. They'll know we slept together anyway - otherwise we'd have been back hours ago - so they might as well know it's not the first time. Or the last."  
Sean smiles,  
"In that case I want them to know too."

This time it's a thing of warmth and comfort. Passion is tempered with the urge to show they care about each other, even if they haven't quite braved the word 'love' yet. And when they're done they get dressed and leave, head off to surprise their friends and fight Black Claw together. At the door Sean pauses, looks back. The hotel room is just as cheap and nasty as when they arrived. But he would have to say he rather liked the mirror.

**Author's Note:**

> 'Spiegelbild' means mirror-image.


End file.
